Trade Aid

Making a World of Difference

Making a world of difference

Trade Aid - Little Bag/Big Difference

PROJECTS

Support for ongoing projects has continued unabated in 2018 and now into 2019, further establishing the influence that Trade Aid UK has been able to give to important relief programmes worldwide. Much of this has been enabled by the continued sale of Trade Aid UK Granulated and Caster Sugar through Tesco Stores and online at Ocado together with the sale of ethical travel insurance through its partner www.travelandinsure.com. The use of external aid agencies and charities has been instrumental in us being able to reach the remotest parts of the globe where often the needs are greatest. The individual aid projects supported by the Trade Aid UK Foundation can be viewed by simply scrolling up and down the project panel on this page and clicking on the project that interests you.

Rohingya Refugee Crisis

Trade Aid UK is providing funding to support the charity, MEDAIR, in its aid efforts on the Bangladesh/Myanmar border. Violence in Rakhine State of Myanmar, which began on 25 August 2017, has driven an estimated 655,500 Rohingya across the border into Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh. Due to leverage from other funding sources, Medair managed to increase Trade Aid UK's donation 5-fold enabling a significant uplift in the support available.

The speed and scale of the influx has resulted in a critical humanitarian emergency, as the people came with very few possessions. They have used most of their savings on transportation and constructing a shelter, often out of no more than bamboo and thin plastic. They are now reliant on humanitarian assistance for food, and other life-saving needs.

Basic local services are under severe strain due to the massive increase in people in the area. In some of the sites that have spontaneously emerged, water and sanitation facilities are limited or of poor quality, raising the risks disease outbreaks. The Rohingya population in Cox’s Bazar is highly vulnerable, having fled conflict and experienced severe trauma, and now living in extremely difficult conditions.

Health and nutrition relief workers went to settlements in Kutupalong Extension, Balukhali, and Nayapara to conduct malnutrition assessments, the results of which were shared with the sector coordinating teams to support the planning of the large-scale humanitarian response needed. For four days, starting on 9 November 2017, World Concern, with the support of Medair, distributed 4,505 shelter kits, and 4,505 hygiene kits to Rohingya living in Thangkhali settlements.

More information on the important work carried out in Bangladesh and across the globe by MEDAIR can be found by visiting www.medair.org/en/